If you’ve ever hosted a marketing event like a tradeshow or a convention or if you’ve been a part of it, you know how messy it can become. Once the event closes, it stops looking like a marketing event and starts looking more like a war zone. Walls and structures come down and form a mountain of waste and refuse, people and machines are going through the isles picking up the leftovers. What was once a passionate and happening affair gets reduced down to trash meant for a dumpster. The sad part is that it happens every time. You see your hard work literally going down the drain.
But that’s not how it’s supposed to be, is it? Is there something we can do to make it better? Can we make it more eco-friendly? Can we reduce our carbon footprint?
Yes, we can make it better. Yes, we can reduce our carbon footprint. There are, in fact, various options for us that we can take to ensure that our next event is more sustainable. Here’s what we can do:
BE ENERGY EFFICIENT
Your choice of electrical items definitely makes a huge impact towards our environment. Doesn’t matter who is paying the electric bill here. If you were at home and you saw that someone has left the lights open, what would be your reaction? You’d be annoyed, right? It’s the same principal here.
That doesn’t mean that you need to have a darkened booth. It just means that you can invest in better lighting options. LED fixtures are 75% more efficient than others. They last longer and are much sturdier than their counterparts. And they look much better too. And while we’re at it, why not do that with every electrical appliance that we have in our booth? We can choose energy efficient screens for our video walls. Nowadays every booth has a screen showing some kind of product or giving a message. Choosing better screens can go a long way.
Everyday when the event closes, remember to turn off all the lights and appliances before you make your exit. Usually the management is in charge of cutting the lights and turning it on every day, but why wait for them? If your work is done, turn off the electricity yourself. When you go to a trade show booth design company to have your booth made, make sure you give them all the proper specifications for lighting and appliances.
GET YOUR WALKING SHOES ON
Choose a hotel that is close to your event venue. This will be helpful in many ways. First of all, you can make sure that you are always there on time and nothing, like a traffic jam, gets in your way. Second, you will save the cost of cabs or Uber. Most importantly, you will not be a part of pollution at all. You will be 100% clean and free. Ask the event management for guidance, they know all the good deals at hotels. They will be glad to help you out, especially when they find out your reasons.
REUSE, REUSE, REUSE
There is a lot of material being used in trade show booths and kiosks. You can ask your trade show booth design company to only use material that can be reused later on. Go for fabric graphics over other non-eco-friendly materials. Don’t throw away the cardboard boxes. Pack them up and keep them for the next event. Whatever you don’t want to reuse or can’t reuse, donate it to a company or an organization that’ll find some use for them. Or dispose them off properly.
One thing that is constant through many events is gifting materials. You can either make gifts that are generic,, that can be used again in other events, or if you have made some items that are specific to this event and are left over, why not donate them? You never know your trash could be someone else’s treasure.
ECO-FRIENDLY BOOTHS
With all the events that you attend, you’ve probably seen booths made of all types of materials. Plastic, wood, aluminum, even crates and cardboards. Your choice in selecting the material for your booth can make a huge impact on the environment. Aluminum is currently the most sustainable material for a booth or kiosk structure. It’s light weight, durable and can be used again and again and again. When you sit down with your trade show booth design company do let them know of your ideas and they will guide you towards the most sustainable material for your booth structure.
GO PAPERLESS
Nowadays, everything has gone digital. With the advent of cloud based storage and processing, you don’t need heavy paper binders or files and folders anymore. It’s easier and cheaper among other things. Get a tablet or an iPad and you will have more security, all your data (literally) at your fingertips, interactive and user friendly interface, light weight, saves space, and you can connect to anyone anytime.
Just think about it. After your next event, you will look back and feel not only pleasure but also pride. It’ll definitely bring a smile to your face. Not only did you save money, you did it in a way that also saved your planet.
